Why do humans dance? My wife and I were at a club the other night and it struck me how silly people looked when dancing. Why do we do it? What is the point?

My guess is that it's an expression of themselves through music and movement

Originally posted by ben nevis
My wife and I were at a club the other night and it struck me how silly people looked when dancing.

Those people likely aren't British :D

usually, at a club, most of the people have had a lot to drink, so the "dancing" might not be as coordinated as it could be

Correct Joe, I am not british, I'm scottish.

I've had the exact same thought, it really is a stupid pasttime, and its really only girls and gay guys that like doing it. Straight guys do it ,don't get me wrong, but its only so they can touch up a girl and/or they know it will possibly lead to sex.
You won't see a group of guys scream when their song comes on and run up to the dance floor and dance with eachother.
So I guess we should be asking the girls why they dance, no straight guy really knows.

see what you're talking about is dancing at a club. this is entirely differnent than anything that could be considered real dancing.

let me guess. alot of "white-boy shuffle" and people grinding all up on each other. half of them drunk. this is not the best place to observe dancing.

that's like judging all human music on what gets played at a frat party.


you should go somewhere that people actually go to enjoy dancing to the music and not just to oggle the opposite sex and get drunk. perhaps there you will see something better.

if not, go to the ballet ;)

What you have to ask yourself is How do they Brake Dance...i have tried it and it is impossible for me...the balance you must have is amazing, specially for the moves involving hand stands and one handed hand stands...though i will not give up...i love it and i will keep at it till i learn at least one move.


As for why we dance, i guess just like laughing it helps to keep us emotionally happy....people all around the world love to dance and sometimes when the right music is on nobody can't help but to just move to the beat...either as in flat out shaking your groove thang or just tapping your feet. It's the same as laughing-Most don't know why they do it it's just that they do and they love it. I can't dance to save my life and i don't try to dance when i hear music but i tell you it's hard sometimes to hold yourself back and i do....*sigh* sadly enough to save myself from embarrassment.

It's fun.

I agree with that- it's fun. There are psychological reasons, of course- letting our bodies move in tandem with others lets us 'let loose' without being 'shot down,' but it is, in my opinion, just fun.

Here's a question, though: why do we humans urinate when we're scared? What does this do for us?

A lot of women tell me how they determine if a guy is good in bed is by judging how well he can dance.

Originally posted by Energy

Here's a question, though: why do we humans urinate when we're scared? What does this do for us?


I guess our bodies get us ready to flee from danger by getting rid of extra weight. The sympathetic nervous system responds to danger by getting rid of extra weight or harmful chemicals that could cause adverse effects when running like urine. Or to make villians look badass to the max when they can make guys piss in their pants. It could also be a bad byproduct of extreme heightened sympathetic nervous system activity.


Also for the people who said we dance because it's fun...well that's true but that's more of a answer of Why you (by you i mean the user who posted that answer) think we dance...i think that the person who started this thread wants to know the scientific reason why we dance......but i could be wrong.....:eek:


*ponders*...oh welllllllllllll.....*starts dancing for no apparent reason to polka music*

It's fun to just let yourself go in the moment and be united as one with your fellow dancers. ;)

I love dancing! Let the music control your body and dance like no-one's watching..

.. specially when I'm drunk.

depends don't it.
i remember from the age of 17-23 all i used to do was dance, so i got quite good at it. it was all i ever thought about.
why i did it was a hard question, but i can tell you the best moments of my life were when i was on the dancefloor. you see for me it was a spiritual thing. some people went to church, while i prefered to see raving as my church. i know you lot may have not got a clue about what i am saying, but there are sort of simirlarities between what we call raving and spiritual practices like what you see those cults do and evangelists in america do.

and the funny thing was nobody ever knew what i was up to, when all i was ever interested in was dancing non stop at a rave like from 11pm to 6am the next morning.

like i say for me it was sort of me connecting wth my inner self, or god if you like.

there is alot that people do not relize about dancing and raving. i am not talking about drugs, like you never see the people who goto see evangelists like taking drugs or whatever.

it is sometimes funny to think that i must of viewed raving like no one has done before, or no one had the techniques i used while i was there. like those places people look at things in a simplitistic view.

"Joeman-A lot of women tell me how they determine if a guy is good in bed is by judging how well he can dance."

these sort of stereo types always make me laugh, but i would not know about anything like that, you see i choose to be celibate all my life, but i know for sure that females do think that stereo type is true

i do still miss the dancing today, you see like i said it was a spiritual thing for me. so it is like a person who is roman catholic never going to church again. but hey that's life and will all have our memories

I'm something too much of an introvert to have experience here, but I'd say dance is more about inhibition than sex. The fun of dance for me would be to make whatever female I am dancing with see that she'd rather be still with me than dance. Dancing would be fun to the extent the dance dances dance out of her system.

Originally posted by andy1033
these sort of stereo types always make me laugh, but i would not know about anything like that, you see i choose to be celibate all my life, but i know for sure that females do think that stereo type is true


I don't think stereotype is the right word. A myth maybe. Their logic is

"guys who dance well are good with rhythm, so they are good in bed" :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Joeman
Their logic is "guys who dance well are good with rhythm, so they are good in bed"

Or they're like me and think, "he dances really good, he must be gay . . ." and goes and finds someone else.:p

yep youre right it really is not a stereotype, it is a myth.

hey there's no need to debunk the "good dancer=good in bed" myth. that one works for me, and i like myths and stereotypes if they work in my favor ;)